Railway switch



July 26, 1938. J KNlGH-r 2,124,804

v RAILWAY swrcu Filed Feb. 11,1938

lla

INVENTOR,

Patented July 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to railway switches, and has for its main object the provision of a switch possessing the characteristics of safety and certainty in action, dependability in use, and the elimination of failure to operate properly which has been the cause of many derailings and wrecks. The switch is designed to operate without the use of the usual pivot for the frog and thereby avoids the dangers which may result from loosening or wearing of the pivot.

The above and other objects will become apparent in the description below, in which characters of reference refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof.

Referring briefly to the drawing, the gure is a plan view of a railway switch and the mechanism for throwing the same.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral Ill represents one rail and the numerals II and II a represents the other rail of a track section, and the numerals I2 and I3 the curved rails of a switch out track section. The former are secured to the ties, not shown, by the usual bolts or spikes I4 placed at spaced apart intervals along the rails.

'Ihe rail II terminates at the switch in an extension tongue or frog I5, integral with the rail II, which at its base is concavely rounded on one side at I6 and convexly on the other side I'I. The concavely rounded side I6 at the base of the tongue I5 provides a socket, in which the complementarily rounded extremity I8 of the rail IIa normally registers, that is, when the switch is open. At its extremity the tongue I5 is provided with a at face I9 at an angle to the sides of the tongue. The curved rails I2 and I3 are secured by bolts 2| to plates I9 and 20, respectively, these plates in turn being secured on the ties, not shown, at the switch. The entire curved section I3 shown is rigidly secured by the said bolts to the plate 20, but the section I 2 is secured through part of its length only so that its end tongue 23 beyond the point 22 is free to swing and ride on its plate I9.

The rail I la: is rigid on its ties and on the plate 20 up to the point 24, which is secured to the plate 20 by bolts 25, and the rail beyond the point 24, including the tongue I5, is free to swing about the point 24 as a pivot, on the plate 2D.

The extremity of the curved rail I3 is also provided with an angular face 26 which is complementary to the face I9 of the tongue I5. The rail IIa is also held rigid by the bolts 25a and spikes I4.

The switch throwing mechanism comprises the crank 28, the shaft 29 rotatably supported irl` standards 30, and the oppositely disposed U- shaped bends or cranks 3| and 32 formed in the shaft 29. A lever 33 is pivoted at one end to the crank 3| and at the other end to the side of the tongue 23. Likewise, a lever 34 is pivoted at one end to the crank 32 and at the other end to the side of the tongue I5. The manually operated switch throwing mechanism just described is for purposes of illustration only, as any other suitable mechanism, whether manually or mechanically operated, may obviously be used for the purpose of throwing the switch.

With the switching mechanism in the position shown, a train on the rails I0 and II-I Ia will pass straight along these rails, as the switch is open. When the crank 28 is thrown so as to cause a train to be switched from the rails I0 and Il to the curved rails I2 and I3, the cranks 3| and 32 will assume positions directly opposite to those shown, the end of the rail I I beyond the point 24 will be bent into the position shown in broken lines, and at the same time the tongue 23 will be urged ush against the rail I0. The end of the rail II will bend freely about the point 24 as a pivot, and the section I 6 will likewise bend freely about the point 22 as a pivot. When the tongue I5 is in the position shown in dotted lines, the end faces I9 and 26 will lie in mutual engagement and the face 26 will serve as a limit stop to the outward swing of the tongue I5.

Obviously, modifications in form and structure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

In a railway switch adapted to operate in conjunction with the two rails of a straight ahead track, a pair of curved rails forming part of the switch, one of said straight rails being divided into two sections, one of said sections having a tongue extension thereon overlapping the other of said two sections, said tongue extension being pliable, one of said curved rails extending toward said one straight rail, the other of said curved rails extending toward the other of said straight rails and having its end free and pliable, switch control means connected to said other curved rail and to said tongue extension for simultaneously bending said free end of said other curved rail and said tongue extension in mutually opposite lateral directions from a position in which said free end of said other curved rail lies against said other straight rail and said tongue extension lies clear of said other section of said one straight rail into a position in which said free end of said other curved rail lies clear of said other straight rail and said tongue extension lies against the end of the other section of said one straight rail, and vice versa, said tongue extension being concavely rounded to form a socket at its base, said end of said other section of said one rail beingl complementarily rounded to register in said socket when said tongue extension lies in position against said other section of said one rail.

J OHN KNIGHT. 

